Peta Thompson told the Bendigo Advertiser new guidelines demanding students tie up long hair and come to school clean-shaven were threatening her children’s freedom. 

“We pay astronomical school fees to send both our girls there,” Ms Thompson said.

“They should have the right to wear their hair however they want.”

Ms Thompson said focusing on appearance, and not on education and the needs of students, was superficial.  

Once a student at the school and the mother of two sons who had already graduated from CCB, Ms Thompson said this was the first time she had heard parents were not satisfied with the way students looked. 

She also said there was a double standard in the way students and teachers were treated, describing some staff’s appearance as “wacky and out-there”.

She asked for her girls to be given the same creative licence.  

“Everyone is entitled to self-expression, the way you wear your clothes, the way you wear your makeup. Its showing who you are,”

“If you stop someone doing that, it’s wrong.”

Her comments come after a poll of the Bendigo Advertiser’s online readers showed people were split on the issue, with only two per cent separating those who opposed the school’s stance (51 per cent) from those who supported it (49 per cent).

By Monday evening, more than 800 people had signed an online petition rejecting the new policy.

Principal Brian Turner said on Sunday he would meet with the school’s leadership team this week to discuss the rule change.

Catholic College Bendigo was asked for further comment on Monday but did not respond before deadline.